Southwest Trends. Other Voices.

Er Crisis

How Emergency Rooms Are Being Misused

August 08, 1993

"Roughly 30 percent of our volume is primary care. We see it a lot and attribute it to the fact that these people have no place else to go for care. It's not more expensive from the patients' view. They either don't pay at all or their insurance company pays. From the system-wide perspective, however, it's many times more expensive." - Dr. William McConnell, chairman, department of emergency medicine, Silver Cross Hospital, Joliet

"If reimbursement levels were higher for public aid patients, we could keep some of these people out of emergency rooms because primary care physicians would be more willing to see them. But as it is, many of these people have colds or sore throats and don't need to be in an emergency room setting; yet there's no other place for them to receive care." - Dr. Theodore Kanellakes, chairman, Will-Grundy Medical Society communications committee

"What we need to do is come up with a way to provide care to non-emergency patients within 24 to 48 hours. They should be able to go to a clinic for help, so that the people who need emergency care can be treated immediately, and those who don't need care immediately won't have to wait in the emergency room. But for this we would need financial support from the federal government." - Dr. Rao Kilaru, medical director, department of emergency medicine, St. Joseph Medical Center, Joliet "I don't think people realize the value of having a personal or family physician. It's a good idea to get established with a doctor who can get to know you and follow your progress from year to year. Otherwise, each time you go to a doctor you have to start from square one. Continuity of care is the key benefit." - Dr. Lucy Folino, medical director, Palos Community Hospital's Immediate Care Center, Orland Park